Mauni Amavasya

Culture of origin: Hindu · Cultural

Holiday sources: Hinduism

Mauni means "silence": the day is spent in silence and given to honouring ancestors. Devotees bathe early in holy waters, believed to wash away sins, fast, light ghee lamps for their forefathers and offer water to the sun. At Prayagraj it is the busiest bathing day of the Kumbh Mela: about 30 million people bathed there on Mauni Amavasya in 2001.